"strange inheritance." i'm jamie colby. remember -- you can't take it with you. >> he was at the center of a scandal -- the national pastime, gambling, and gangsters. >> arnold rothstein gave them a little bit of money to, supposedly, throw the series. >> "shoeless" joe was arguably the best baseball player of all time. >> he's banned from the game... >> one weeping fan of his cried out, "say it isn't so!" >> ...and the fascination with his tale endures. >> shoeless joe's really part of pop culture. >> so why is his autograph one of the rarest in sports? >> he was virtually illiterate. >> he had a very hard time even writing an individual letter. >> he did. >> as far as we know it, there is only one known. >> one? >> just one. >> and it's this woman's strange inheritance. >> it started to dawn on me that this is a lot of money we're talking about.

>> this is a biggie -- 1911 "shoeless" joe jackson signed photograph. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ] [ bird caws ] >> hi. i'm jamie colby, and i'm heading along the shores of lake erie in cleveland, ohio. today i'm meeting a woman who inherited a rare item that recalls the most notorious episode in baseball history -- an episode that's inspired books and movies and retains an air of mystery to this day. >> my name is sharon bowen. after my husband, bill, passed away, i started to receive lots of phone calls about a scrapbook that he had kept in a trunk in our bedroom. i knew very little about "shoeless" joe jackson, but now i do. >> bill and sharon bowen raise two children in a cleveland suburb. how long were you married? >> we were married 39 years. >> bill, a professional fundraiser, works for local

universities and the salvation army. he's a native clevelander and a baseball nut. >> this is bill, probably around 5 or 6. >> bill started collecting at a very early age. >> and never stops. card collecting becomes a family affair. >> did you do any collecting with him? >> that was my thing with him and with his father -- every saturday, going to baseball-card shows, just sitting around the kitchen table and looking at all the cards. >> through work, bill becomes friends with a retired professor who shares his passion for collecting. >> and one day, the -- the gentleman's wife said to him, "i have a book i bet you would love to see." >> boy, does he! this simple paper scrapbook holds a treasure trove of photographs from the 1911 spring training camp of the cleveland naps, now called the indians. >> she inherited this book from her father, and her father received it as a gift from his friend frank smith.

>> frank smith was a photographer for the cleveland plain dealer. that spring, he takes action shots of established stars like nap lajoie, christy mathewson, and a cleveland rookie named joseph jefferson jackson. >> hi, joe. >> good to see you. >> so great to see you. to learn more about that rookie, i pay a visit to baseball memorabilia maven joe orlando. when the names of greats come up, is shoeless joe still in that category? >> babe ruth, who most people consider to be the greatest player who ever lived, patterned his own swing after joe jackson's. >> safe! >> if that doesn't tell you what type of a hitter joe jackson was, i don't know what -- what will. >> joe jackson is born in pickens county, south carolina, in 1887. what kind of family did he come from? >> well, he came from humble beginnings. he worked at a textile mill as a teenager, as a mill hand, and he

was virtually illiterate for the remainder of his life. >> but on the diamond, he's a true phenom. at the age of 13, he stars on the cotton mill's team and picks up a lifelong nickname. >> legend has it that while he was a teenager playing in a mill game, his cleats were bothering him so much that he took his cleats off and played the rest of the game without shoes, and one of the fans started to heckle him and call him a shoeless son of a gun. >> "shoeless" joe's career takes off like a blue-streak line drive. in 1908, he bats .346 for a minor league team in greenville. in 1911, he's ready to move up. >> it was his first full season in the majors with the cleveland naps. >> and photog frank smith documents his arrival in "the bigs." [ cheers and applause ] >> he batted .408, which still stands as a record for a rookie. [ bat cracking ]

>> safe! >> he may be a whiz on the field, but traveling with his teammates, joe can't even read a menu. >> if they were in a restaurant, he'd listen to what everyone else ordered and simply base his order off of that. >> he needs help just writing his own name, so he rarely signs anything but legal documents. of course, you don't need to read or write to hit a fastball. in 1915, joe moves up another notch when he's traded to the chicago white sox. >> chicago was a very good team, and he helped them win a world series in the 1917 season. >> they may have been good, but they were not happy. >> charles comiskey, who was the owner of the white sox at the time, was known as being extremely frugal. >> in 1919, the sox again capture the american league pennant and are favored to beat the cincinnati reds in the world series. but many players feel comiskey is cheating them of their bonuses. the friction creates an

opportunity for a new york gangster named arnold rothstein, who runs a sports-betting racket. >> arnold rothstein got to some of the players of the chicago white sox and gave them a little bit of money under the table to supposedly throw the series. >> when the sox lose the series 5 games to 3, rothstein makes a bundle. the "black sox" scandal erupts. a grand jury indicts shoeless joe and seven other players for conspiracy. >> several of those teammates confessed that they were part of fixing the series and implicated joe jackson. >> testimony of pitcher edward cicotte is said to have been most incriminating evidence. >> prompted by comiskey's lawyer, jackson admits taking $5,000 from teammate lefty williams, but he denies throwing the series. outside the courtroom, a young sox fan supposedly confronts his hero. "say it ain't so, joe!" he says.

but was it so? why would a player like shoeless joe throw a game, a world series game? >> well, the reality is that you and i will never know, with 100% certainty, the truth. joe jackson was virtually illiterate, so when he was confessing, did he comprehend what he was doing? >> based on the stats, it didn't look like joe jackson had anything to do with the plot. he batted .375, hit a home run, and had 6 rbis. >> although a jury acquits all eight "black sox" players, baseball commissioner judge kenesaw mountain landis bans them from the game. shoeless joe takes his trophies home and never again sets foot on a big league diamond. he lives in relative obscurity in south carolina until his death in 1951. since then, few baseball stories have captured the imagination more than shoeless joe's.

being here at the baseball field, it's the perfect place to ask you about him as a legend. >> we have movies such as "field of dreams," "eight men out," that continue to bring shoeless joe in front of new fans, new moviegoers. >> and that legend is what drives cleveland baseball collector bill bowen to covet the book of frank smith photos, which his friend showed him in 2006. take me back to the moment he first told you he wanted to buy the scrapbook. >> he came home and said, "you know, i'm gonna buy this book." >> the price -- $15,000. the missus is not amused. >> i said, "absolutely not. who would spend that kind of money for a paper scrapbook filled with old pictures?" >> your husband the baseball nut, that's who! and that's next. >> but first, our... two of these actors played "shoeless" joe jackson in

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>> so, which actor didn't play shoeless joe? the answer is... liotta played him in "field of dreams," sweeney in "eight men out," but redford's character in "the natural" was only based on shoeless joe.

>> in early 2010, baseball fanatic bill bowen tries to convince his wife to let him buy this 100-year-old scrapbook of vintage baseball players. in it is an autographed picture of the legendary "shoeless" joe jackson. the asking price -- $15,000. >> and that's when i said, "no, absolutely not." >> bill buys it anyway, selling some of his other memorabilia to raise the cash. where did you keep it? >> it was just sitting in a trunk in our bedroom, handy, so he could pull it out and look at it and show it to people when they came. >> and sharon decides to stop giving her husband a hard time about it. really? you were that easy about it? >> i was easy, because life's too short, and -- and it proved to be true. >> in 2014, bill has a heart attack... and dies at the age of 67.

shortly after his death, baseball collectors begin calling his widow. >> we started to get some phone calls from people. did we still have the book? would we consider selling it? >> a family friend suggests they talk to heritage auctions in dallas. >> so my daughter took some pictures of the book... [ camera shutter clicking ] ...and e-mailed it to heritage, and they e-mailed her back in four minutes. >> four -- within four minutes, you heard from an auction house? >> mm-hmm. >> chris ivy specializes in baseball memorabilia. >> when something like this comes in, it's incredibly special. >> three days later, a heritage representative flies up from dallas. >> he starts flipping through it and says, "you didn't tell me that this guy was in here. you didn't tell me you had this autograph." >> but the real money shot is that autographed picture of shoeless joe. the bowen family sends the book to the auction house. chris ivy believes the

autographed joe jackson picture is one of a kind. but before it goes on the auction block, he has to make sure it's genuine. >> we don't sell any autographs without third-party authentication. so, obviously, that's a nerve-wracking prospect. >> and the authenticators have their doubts. how likely was it that it was legitimately signed by joe jackson? >> in my head, i'm thinking, "i'm sure you also have a bigfoot/loch ness monster dual-signed baseball coming behind that, as well." >> here's another quiz question for you. the answer in a moment. this is not a bed.

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>> ...which curved in to right-handers. it helped mathewson rack up a record 373 career wins. >> there's nothing like a day at the park -- our own field of dreams. >> that's right. >> to determine whether sharon bowen's strange inheritance -- this autographed picture of "shoeless" joe jackson -- is real, the auction house calls joe orlando, president of professional sports authenticator, in orange county, california. he's also a baseball nut. >> legend has it that shoeless joe could throw a ball 400 feet, so what you're looking at is probably a ball that would actually sail far over that scoreboard beyond the center-field fence. >> that's awesome. joe's job is to give buyers and auction houses an informed opinion on the legitimacy of sports memorabilia. >> it's our job to be skeptical about everything.

>> how elaborate is the process to authenticate something of this magnitude? >> well, that's where we're gonna head over to our offices and really give you an in-depth look at the process itself. >> it falls to psa's steve grad to determine whether the joe jackson signed photo is legit. steve, thank you so much for letting me come in. i am the most excited about this authentication part. for yet another baseball nut, it's the chance of a lifetime. >> there isn't a joe jackson photograph that i know of that's actually signed, and they're telling me it's got great provenance, great story. but i want to see that autograph first. >> steve has reason to be skeptical, and not just because jackson couldn't read or write. collecting autographs from ballplayers didn't become a fad until well after shoeless joe's career. signed photos from his era are very rare. confirming that the photo was actually printed in 1911 is psa's first challenge. what about the photograph itself? did you have any concern about

the paper? >> we have a photo expert, henry yee, and henry's really good with paper and photographs. he confirmed that, "well, this was used for a short period of time, but right during that period." he knew immediately. >> okay, the picture is legit, but how about that signature? >> so, this is joe jackson's last contract. this is 1920. >> remember, nobody has seen another autographed shoeless joe picture. but steve can compare the writing to various legal documents that the illiterate jackson did sign. >> through the years i've been able see a handful of joe jackson signatures we've deemed authentic, and i'm able to look at certain tendencies joe jackson has. so, that autograph has to talk to me. if you want to go ahead and put it in... >> we put a copy of the signed photo into this contraption, called a video spectral comparator. >> you'll see things you can't see with the naked eye... >> let's see. >> ...you could see with this. and here we go. i'm gonna drop the magnification to 8. >> it's very "csi." >> and we start to look at the formations here of the letters. you can see where he's really --

he labored. >> he had a very hard time even writing an individual letter. >> he did. >> how do you distinguish the signature that we look at and the real deal? >> so, we take the photo back, and we take a look at the signature itself, okay? what's fascinating to me -- we're talking 1911, 1920. 9 years later. look how he comes up here to the "e," okay? and we're starting to see the same thing here again. >> a straight line from the "o" to the "e" in "joe." >> 1911 to 1920 -- you take a look, it's literally the same thing. >> with what percentage are you certain you have an authentic joe jackson signed photograph? >> 100%. i had, like, this eureka moment. and i was like, "bam! there it is! that's joe jackson." >> steve certifies the autographed shoeless joe picture and the entire 60-photo collection is real. >> it's one of the coolest things i've ever handled in my entire life.

>> even better news for the bowen family -- he grades the signature a 9 out of 10 in quality. he also rates the other signatures at either 9 or 10. after more than 100 years, the photos frank smith took at the cleveland naps spring training are about to make their public debut. >> it's also very exciting to reach out to the bowens and -- and let them know that we're gonna be able to sell it on their behalf. >> this is a biggie -- 1911 "shoeless" joe jackson signed photograph... >> yeah, live auction is always a lot of fun. >> beautiful. how 'bout it? >> $30,000. >> $30,000 now. >> it was very exciting. >> have you ever seen a photo like this? >> that's next. what's your strange inheritance story? we'd love to hear it! send me an e-mail or go to our website... -and we welcome back gary, who's already won three cars, two motorcycles, a boat, and an r.v. i would not want to pay that insurance bill. [ ding ] -oh, i have progressive,

so i just bundled everything with my home insurance. saved me a ton of money. -love you, gary! -you don't have to buzz in. it's not a question, gary. on march 1, 1810 -- [ ding ] -frédéric chopin. -collapsing in 226 -- [ ding ] -the colossus of rhodes. -[ sighs ] louise dustmann -- [ ding ] -brahms' "lullaby," or "wiegenlied." -when will it end? [ ding ] -not today, ron. who used expedia to book the vacation rental which led to the discovery

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> manhattan. february 21, 2015.

sharon bowen's family gathers for the auction of her strange inheritance... a 1911 scrapbook of signed photos of baseball greats. the crown jewel of the collection is the only known autographed photo of "shoeless" joe jackson, but the bowens soon learn the rest of the collection is plenty valuable, too. >> lot 53, the 1911 christy mathewson signed photo. have you ever seen a photo like this from mathewson? >> $30,000. >> $30,000. now $36,000. >> the scrapbook is broken into four lots for auction. >> $36,000. now to go to $38,000. >> i said to my children, "dad would have loved this." >> $60,000! >> and will said to me, "except, mom, dad would never have done it because he would have kept that book as long as he was alive." >> now it's a level playing field. >> my dad and i had been to so many sort of auctions like that, but never one of this magnitude. >> there are a few bidders in the room, but most are online and anonymous. >> the christy mathewson photo,

which had some very spirited bidding... >> $2,500 more to you, sir. they're gonna help you pay for it, i guess. >> ...and went well beyond its initial estimate. >> $77,500 once, twice. done! it's yours, $77,500. give him a hand. [ applause ] moving along, this is a biggie. >> next on the auction block, that signed photo of "shoeless" joe jackson, the only one known to exist. >> it was fun and bittersweet, because it meant the story was over for us. this piece of bill was leaving. >> probably read some press about this. absolutely pristine condition. >> it was the pride and joy of bill bowen's lifelong collection. >> let's start the bidding at... >> $110,000. >> $110,000. give me $120,000. >> and at that point, it started to dawn on me that this is a lot of money we're talking about. >> $120,000. now to go to $130,000. >> and i think at some point, my left knee started to buckle, just a little. >> i was very excited for -- for sharon bowen and her family,

as well. it speaks to her husband, bill bowen, that he had a great eye. >> now we got to $150,000. i need a buck and a half. $150,000 for the shoeless joe. $150,000. anyone else? done! $150,000! >> when the auction house commission is added, the joe jackson picture brings in $179,000. in the end, one anonymous bidder buys the whole collection. >> i thought -- you know, it's silly. they're not siblings, but, still, it made me happy that they stayed together. >> the scrapbook that bill bowen bought for $15,000 garners just over $300,000. not a bad return on investment... and a nice chunk of cash for his widow. >> he knew on some level that this would be a legacy to us and it would be security for me in my retirement and enable us to do some things for our children that he would want us to do. >> in a bygone era, an

enterprising photographer shoots a picture of an up-and-coming ballplayer and gets him to autograph it. the player sees stardom, then scandal, obscurity, then immortality, as the photo passes to a daughter, a friend, a co-worker, and, finally, a wife, once skeptical, now profoundly grateful that her husband had the sense, at least this once, not to listen to her. bill's daughter, meredith, told me that she has her own "field of dreams" vision of her father up in the baseball section of heaven, playing catch with "shoeless" joe. joe looks at him and smiles and says, "ain't it crazy? my signature on that old picture just got your wife a whole big pot of money." and just maybe bill is getting "shoeless" joe to explain exactly what happened back in chicago in 1919.

i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching, and remember -- you can't take it with you. [ bat cracks, crowd cheers ] >> a letter arrives in the mail with news of a strange and lucrative inheritance. >> the letter goes on to say, "if i got a letter like this, i would think it to be a scam." >> and i was like, "why are we named? somebody's scamming us." >> so, is it a scam? >> i said, "you know, ray, there's a fine between genius and idiot." he'd say, "yeah," and he said, "i cross that two or three times a day." >> who is this mysterious benefactor? >> he was a hidden man. >> he didn't have the family life. he didn't have a friend to talk to. >> he really, truly was a fan. >> but an inheritance? >> that's a strange inheritance and a stranger story still. [ door creaks ] [ wind howls ] [ thunder rumbles ]

[ bird caws ] ♪ >> i'm jamie colby, and today i'm on old route 66 in central illinois. i'm heading to the small farming town of lincoln, where the strangest of inheritance stories unfolded. on a monday morning in july 2012, farmer bob pharis heads out to mow hay on some land he leases from an old friend named ray fulk. >> and it was very uncommon for ray not to come out and talk to me. and then i smelled something. i happened to look over and the bin door was open and that was not a good sign. i just went over there, and then i found him. and then i called 911 and... >> the county coroner, acting on info from a neighbor, contacts attorney don behle to inform him his 71-year old client has died

of heart failure. behle cannot even remember fulk. >> i hadn't seen him in 15 years, and so i had no idea who they're talking about. >> how strange is it that we're here right now talking to you about this guy you barely remember? >> [ laughs ] it's very strange. >> don checks his files and realizes he indeed worked with someone named ray fulk back in 1997. >> he wanted me to change his will and he brought it in to me and i was named as the executor. but all i had was a copy. it was 15 years later. he could have changed his will. >> don drives out to ray's farmhouse to find the original will. there he discovers an unsettling scene. >> it was absolutely covered with cobwebs and would remind you of a show where you'd have dracula involved. >> i mean, my house might sometimes be untidy. are we talking about more than that? >> we're talking about a hoarder show. the whole place reeked. >> somehow, the lawyer locates

ray fulk's will. it directs $5,000 dollars to a chicago animal shelter, but the next part is a puzzle. >> "i give and bequeath all my tangible personal property to my friends, kevin m. brophy of san fernando, california, and peter barton of valley stream, long island, new york. >> who are these guys? and how does don find them? that will take more digging -- digging through the debris. >> in ray's room, he had pictures of wolves torn out of magazines and put on the wall. i had no idea how it all fit together at that point in time. >> he'll start to fit it all together soon. among ray's many diaries written in neat cursive, don finds a scrapbook with a big clue. >> it said "lucan." i opened it up, and it had kevin's picture in there. >> "lucan" was a tv series starring kevin brophy as a boy raised by wolves.

it was cancelled after just 12 episodes in 1978, when ray fulk was 37 years old. >> it was pretty clear to me that show meant something to ray and he identified with it. >> don digs further and discovers the other man in the will -- peter barton -- also an actor. why fulk named him, however, is a bigger riddle. from to 1988 to '92, barton played dr. scott grainger in the soap opera "the young and the restless. >> how am i ever gonna be able to thank you? >> before that, he starred in a short-lived tv series called "the powers of matthew star." two basically unknown actors that ray had a fondness for. did you have any idea how much they were going to inherit? >> the inheritance consisted of approximately 165 acres, some c.d.s that were at the bank, and the cash that i found around the house. >> how much is it all worth?

don's not exactly sure, but figures hundreds of thousands of dollars easy, maybe even $1 million or more. so, the dutiful attorney writes letters to the two retired actors, informing them of their very strange inheritance. >> "he has named you, as his friends, beneficiaries of his estate." i was stunned. i was shocked. >> i took the other side of it completely, going, "kevin, if it's too good to be true, it probably is." >> that's next. >> but first, our "strange inheritance" quiz question. which strange personality willed that a séance be held for him every year? was it master of the macabre edgar allan poe, escape artist harry houdini, or horror-film icon vincent price? the answer in a moment. ♪ limu emu & doug

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♪i've had my fun baby i'm done♪ ♪i gotta go home ♪it will all be alright ♪i'll be home tonight ♪i'm comin back home >> so, which strange personality willed an annual séance be held for him? it's "b," harry houdini, who died in 1926. he wanted to reveal himself to his wife once a year. >> let's reset. in august 2012, two former actors -- kevin brophy and peter barton -- each receive a letter informing them they are the co-inheritors of the estate of someone named ray fulk. ray had never met either of

them. leaving a huge amount of money to someone you've never met sounds more than eccentric, which leads me to a question for ray's attorney -- don behle. it says, as every will does, "ray fulk, of lincoln, illinois, being of sound and disposing mind and memory." was he? >> yes. he knew what he owned. he may have been odd, but he was of sound mind. >> my next stop is southern california to meet kevin brophy. >> my name is kevin brophy, and in 2012, i received a letter that was really about to change my life. >> it's here in the land of sun, surf, and palm trees kevin started his career more than 30 years ago. >> this is an episode of "lucan." he was a boy raised by wolves. that was the premise of the pilot, and the pilot went to 12 episodes over a two-year period. >> as so many actors will say,

it was a good ride while it lasted. it didn't last for you. >> my window was in my 20s, and i had my program and a great career. then the phone stops ringing. >> when the phone stops ringing, kevin finds a new line of work. he takes a job as a doorman in 1983 at the posh hotel bel-air and keeps it for the next 27 years. >> then the hotel closed and they went for remodeling and i was praying for a job and then the letter [chuckles] -- i refer to it as "the letter" -- comes. this is the original letter from the attorney saying, "you don't know me, but i represent ray e. fulk. he was a hermit and a hoarder and a farmer here in illinois." and don behle, who wrote the letter, goes on to say, "if i got a letter like this, i would think it to be a scam." >> turns out kevin once worked with the second beneficiary in ray fulk's will -- fellow actor peter barton. >> i did a movie in 1980 called

"hell night," kind of a campy horror story, but became friends with most of the cast members, including peter. >> peter now lives in upstate new york. so, you really don't hear much about kevin until you find out somebody died and you're the only two "friends" he names in his will. >> from the moment i opened that up and i saw kevin's name, i was like, "somebody's scamming us." >> the two men discuss what to do next. >> i said, "peter, i believe it. i believe it, and i'm going with it for gusto." >> i took the other side of it completely, going, "kevin, if it's too good to be true, it probably is." >> but peter agrees to make the 900-mile trip to lincoln, illinois, to find out for both of them. peter's home video begins to unravel the mystery. >> behind the silos, ray had a grave site with all his dogs. look at this, all the pet cemetery. queenie, 3-21-77.

10-15-87. '82, '80, '94. buddy, fred, fad. wow. a lot of dogs. >> the pet cemetery abuts 167 acres of prime soil, tillable for corn and soybean... >> wow. that's a lot of farmland out there. >> ...all this a gift from a man they never met. so, who was this guy? and why would he do this? >> dennis and nitsie gleason live a stone's throw away from ray fulk. how would you describe, in a word, ray? >> weird. >> i'd say weird, goofy. >> eccentric. "whoa." >> eccentric maybe for good reason. the neighbors explain that ray eugene fulk, born in 1941, was an only child and an outcast

at school, bullied by classmates and often by his own mother. >> his mother was real mean. i think he got along with his father more, but ray would tell me these different things that his mother would do to him. >> for example? >> well, she'd leave him out of the house. he couldn't come in the house for a while. he'd have to stay outside. he said he'd go sleep with the puppies. >> mm-hmm. never really had a friend. >> the only persons he trusted was, you know, his dogs and me and bob pharis. >> bob had known ray since they were teenagers. >> he probably had some type of a learning disability. and in today's education, they would have caught that, but they just didn't have that type of thing back there in the '50s. so, i think ray fell through the cracks. >> when ray graduates from high school in 1958, he joins the army. he loves it, bob says, but his

mother lobbies to get him an early release to help on the farm. >> it's too bad 'cause i think ray would have been better off if he would have remained in the army and away from mom and probably his life would have turned out a whole lot differently. >> in the diaries he kept for decades, ray compares himself to a wolf, "the most maligned, least understood animal," he writes, "that shares my same distrust of humanity. >> you know, he was very intelligent, and he and i would even joke about it. i said, "you know, ray, there's a fine line between genius and idiot." he'd say, "yeah," and he said, "i cross that two or three times a day." >> in 1981, ray's mother dies. for the next 15 years, ray shares the farmhouse with his dad. in the late 1990s, his father is in poor health and doesn't have much time left. ray confides in his friend bob that he suspects some of his

cousins are after the farm and his dad's investments. ray fears they're trying to have him declared mentally incompetent to take control of his father's estate. >> he was telling me about it, and i said, "ray, you need an attorney." >> ray's been using his father's attorney, but he now suspects that lawyer is in cahoots with his cousins and scheming against him. >> and that's when i mentioned don behle. >> and he told me about his dad and the problems he was having with cousins wanting to take over the control and care of his father. >> did ray say why he wanted his family to not benefit from the estate? what did they do to him? >> i think the fact that any relative went to an attorney to take away his father was the act that he thought was treacherous. >> don assures ray he'll help. then in 1997, ray's father dies. so ray makes one more trip to lincoln to amend his will and

name don behle as his executor. >> he no longer wanted the executor that he had previously named because those were the attorneys that had irritated him by talking to his other family members. >> were you surprised? >> it seemed to me that, even though ray was odd, he knew his relatives, didn't like them. >> but don knows full well that's not always the end of it, especially in situations like this, where a hermit, described as weird, eccentric, and goofy, bequeaths a family fortune to a couple of complete strangers. but you have to give relatives a chance to come forward, right? >> well, yeah. i mean, the relatives have the opportunity to contest a will. they have six months to do that. >> how'd that go? that's next -- and more. do you ever feel guilty taking an inheritance from a stranger? >> here's another quiz question for you. which of these pampered pets was willed the largest inheritance? fashion designer

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>> so, which pampered pet received the largest inheritance? it's "c." leona helmsley left her beloved maltese -- trouble -- a $12-million trust in 2007. [ dog barks ] >> two former actors get the surprise of a lifetime in 2012 when ray fulk, a man they've never met, leaves them a large inheritance. >> but it's no done deal yet. ray's relatives have six months to challenge the will, and ray long suspected that some of them

pegged him as mentally incompetent. you don't think of it as taking it away from other relatives of his? >> absolutely not because ray's story is a heartbreaking story caused by pain and loneliness. so, for ray to have looked on myself and peter with this incredible gift, this is doing exactly what ray wanted. ♪ >> exhibit "a," kevin brophy says -- ray's scrapbook, dedicated to his starring role in "lucan." >> "these are the chronicles that follow the young wolf man in the world of man in his quest to find his roots." and it's all hand-put-together. and the picture that i sent him -- there's the photograph. >> and he wrote, "this scrapbook would not be complete without a corresponding section devoted to kevin brophy." >> he really, truly was a fan. >> maybe, but kevin admits this is the stuff restraining orders are made of. >> you know, it could have come back as a stalking, horrible nightmare, but ray was just

very, very introverted and loved television. and thank goodness for "lucan." >> but an inheritance? >> that's a strange inheritance and a stranger story still. >> okay, with the scrapbooks, the wolf pictures, the dog cemetery, you get ray fulk's affinity for "lucan." but what's up with the soap-opera doc? peter barton finds the answer in ray's letters. >> i started reading these letters, and i'm like, "wow. this guy is talking about astral projecting. he's talking about things that my character did." >> not barton's "young and the restless" character, but in his role in "the powers of matthew star," a 1982 series about an alien with supernatural abilities. >> it's like he was searching and he saw matthew star and he went, "oh, my god," you know? >> a little crazy? >> i think he was a really smart guy who kind of built a cage around himself and then couldn't get out. that's what i wanted when i was doing "matthew star." i wanted to affect people like ray. >> did you ask don, the lawyer,

if ray had any other family that he might have given it to? >> for myself, it never really crossed my mind. >> you can leave anything to anyone, but you have to give relatives a chance to come forward, right? >> well, yeah. i mean, the relatives have the opportunity to contest a will. they have six months to do that. >> how'd that go? >> nobody contested it. >> so kevin brophy and peter barton are now the proud owners of 167 acres of corn and soybean fields. but is that the end of this strange inheritance story? not by a country mile. >> two hollywood characters come to town that ray never mentioned, and they're here to leave with cash. >> we were just a little leery about who they were that was getting the money. >> and exactly how much money? that's coming up, plus this. did ray save your life? >> ray indeed saved my life. of savings and service.

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>> now back to "strange inheritance." >> a fan leaves two former actors -- kevin brophy of l.a. and peter barton of new york -- a surprise inheritance that includes 167 acres of farmland in central illinois. what do you say to yourself? "what the heck am i gonna do with this? can i sell it?" could you sell it? >> peter had kind of thought of being a farmer there in illinois. but, no, i can't do winters, and i can't do farming. >> so the heirs ask ray's attorney, don behle, to sell it and see what they get. plenty of locals want ray's fertile land. the highest bid -- $800,000. add in another $500,000 in cash and stocks, and the entire estate is worth $1.3 million. in lincoln after the sale, peter and kevin headline a fundraiser in ray's name for a local humane society. >> ray had a very strange

upbringing and an odd life, but he loved his dogs. he loved his dogs probably more than himself. >> two hollywood characters come to town that ray never mentioned, and they're here to leave with cash. >> we were just a little leery about who they were that was getting the money, but after meeting them, they were two down-to-earth, good people that nitsie and i -- we just loved them to pieces. >> how did the money change your life? >> that's been a godsend because when life looks like easy street, there is danger at your door. one year later, i was diagnosed with colorectal cancer. this was a devastating diagnostic for me in this world of healthcare where a doctor visit could be $200. it has certainly helped alleviate any concern i have for myself and my other extended family. >> did ray save your life? >> ray indeed saved my life. ♪ >> today kevin is still working as a doorman.

his new door has another swanky address. >> i am on rodeo drive. i have an incredible suit i get to wear. >> thank you. >> i have met so many people, i'm thinking of running for the mayor of beverly hills. >> so, the acting didn't make you rich. did the inheritance make you rich? >> the inheritance gave me confidence that i'm safe. maybe i want to say to ray, "thank you, ray. you made me safe." >> peter is currently working on a screenplay about this entire strange inheritance story. and who knows? it may get these two retired actors back into pictures, two lives touched forever by a man they'd never met. i'm jamie colby for "strange inheritance." thanks so much for watching. and remember -- you can't take it with you. do you have a "strange inheritance" story

you'd like to share with us? we'd love to hear it. send me an e-mail or go to our website -- strangeinheritance.com for time s video collection. welcome to our first show that we're doing. i'm real excited. careful, you'll smear my lipstick. (laughter) (lively music) good evening, sir. ♪ (laughter) my goodness. ♪ millions of people are demanding my return to the screen. -what's so funny? -we are. (tarzan yell) (applause) why the hell don't the two of you go on home and let me watch my tv? (goofy laugh) (tim) mrs. wiggins? hello? goodnight, thank you. (applause) well, hello. i'm carol burnett,